Greyhound Racing NSW (GRNSW) CEO, Rob Macaulay says there's "huge demand" to build a straight track at Goulburn.
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His comment came during the organisation's consultation day at the Grace-Millsom Centre on Friday, April 19.
In August 2022, the state government announced construction of the 375m straight track at Goulburn Recreation Area and GRNSW has since been working with the council to make it happen.
However, Macaulay said there was now a legal impediment the two parties were trying to work through.
"There is a 150-year-old block of land abandoned since at least 1927, which is a remnant of an old Baxter family estate, and our straight track wishes to cross it," he said.
"The council says we need to get permission from the owner to build the straight track which isn't possible as they have been dead for 97 years."
Permission was needed because the land was not legally part of the Goulburn Recreational Area, a report to the council's February 20 meeting stated.
It was identified in the statement of environmental effects as being owned by a deceased estate and the anomaly didn't negate the need to obtain the owner's consent for works to be done on the land.
In order to overcome the anomaly, the council could take ownership of the land through a possessory title claim, but as of February this year, there were no funds available in the Goulburn Recreational Area budget to prepare a claim.
However, the council was willing to proceed with a claim if GRNSW agreed to meet all costs associated with its preparation. Councillors endorsed this move following lengthy discussion.
Although Macaulay was aware of all the logistics, he said he didn't understand why the track's construction over the land was an issue.
"The council's own road crosses the land and there's a jogging track that crosses it four times, so why can't we cross it with a greyhound track?" Macaulay said.
He also felt making the straight track a removable one was the easiest solution to the problem.
"The land already has grass on it and all we're doing is replacing it with better grass so nobody can complain about that," he said.
"You'd be able to remove all of the fences at the end of the race day.
"Hopefully, they will look at it and allow us to create what we think is a fantastic improvement to the showground."
If the new track went ahead, Macaulay said it would be brilliant for local employment and be better for both the club and the showground.